Motherboard randomly died during Prime95...why?

[Zap]

Interesting.

I was looking at Micro Center's matrix of AMD motherboard/CPU combo deals, and for this one they won't bundle it with a 125W CPU.

 

[zagood]

Any idea what their typical turnaround time is for motherboard RMA? And whether they cross-ship?

Turnaround for me - sent the board friday, they got it monday, I got a FedEx tracking number today. Fastest turnaround for an RMA I've ever had - but then again they're only about 100 miles from me.

 

[soccerballtux]

I just received all of my parts today and put everything together.

I decided to overclock a bit and was able to boot into windows @ all stock voltages at 3.5 GHz (on my X4 640 and a MSI 785GM-P45 AM3 board). Everything seemed fine as I ran Prime95, but after 30 minutes the system abruptly shut down. No matter what I did, I could not get it to turn back on. I have a Corsair 450VX, which is a reputable power supply. Tried a different power supply (Corsair 400w) to no avail. Tried clearing CMOS. Tried removing all peripherals such as hard drives, etc. The LEDs on the front fan would flash for a fraction of a second, and then everything would go back off.

With that in mind, what could cause the board to suddenly die during Prime95, especially at stock voltages? The CPU load temp during prime95 was only 44C. The case had 120mm intake + exhaust fans, plus a Hyper 212 Plus CPU cooler.

Perhaps MSI didn't "factor in" the amount of stress users were going to put these through!!!!!

 

[soccerballtux]

And what happens to your own, personal Fedex?

Turnaround for me - sent the board friday, they got it monday

Why?

Cause the creek run dry that's why!

 

[996GT2]

Interesting.

I was looking at Micro Center's matrix of AMD motherboard/CPU combo deals, and for this one they won't bundle it with a 125W CPU.

Yeah, I'm not sure either.

Microcenter also does not bundle the MSI 785GTM-E45 with anything over 95w, even though that board is rated to support up to 140w CPUs on MSI's site.

Similarly strange story with some Asus boards. One is offered in a bundle with the 1055T (125w), but not the X4 965 BE or the 1090T BE (both also 125w).

With all that said, though, I'm kinda happy my first MSI mobo in 3 years was a dud (my last MSI board was a K9N Platinum, which was rock solid). If nothing else, it mtivated me to head over to Microcenter and pick up a Sandy Bridge i5-2500k + P67 board for about $290, and this new combo is ridiculously fast

 

[Zap]

it mtivated me to head over to Microcenter and pick up a Sandy Bridge i5-2500k + P67 board for about $290, and this new combo is ridiculously fast

You must have gotten the Gigabyte bundle. I got the Asus bundle to upgrade my wife's i5 750 rig (mine has X58 and 975X, so...).

 

[goobernoodles]

OCCT:linpack would kill boards much quicker than Prime95 would. It stresses more, higher temps, more power drawn.

*facepalm*

That's the point. You use the most stressful program to test your overclocks incrementally; otherwise you have an overclock that you think is stable, however, in reality it's not. Using a program that doesn't stress components enough kills components because it increases the likelihood that you'll push the hardware too far.

 

[ArchAngel777]

*facepalm*

That's the point. You use the most stressful program to test your overclocks incrementally; otherwise you have an overclock that you think is stable, however, in reality it's not. Using a program that doesn't stress components enough kills components because it increases the likelihood that you'll push the hardware too far.

Yeah, but the reality is that you can have something prime, linpack stable for 8+ hours and still experience a BSOD or system crash. It does not garuntee a perfect running computer. They are good tests and I stand by them, but anyone who thinks that their system is rock stable simply because it passed a stress test is deluding themselves.

 

[Drakula]

Well, add me to the list of motherboard killed by Prime95. And coincidentally, it is a 785GB-P45 as well. I used it to unlock a Phenom II X2 550 to quad core. Did not adjust anything, just running it with "Unlock Core" and ACC on. Was fine at first, but then after about an hour, noticed that the system shut itself off and a thought of "oh @#$@#$" across the mind. Sure enough, the system would not power on anymore. When trying to turn it on, the CPU fan and the PSU fan only jerk a little and that is all. And to think that I only begin to use it yesterday. It has not even been out of the bag for 24 hours.

Hopefully the other components are not damaged by the motherboard. Tried CPU and PSU on another motherboard and did post, so far, a good sign.

 

[soccerballtux]

I just received all of my parts today and put everything together.

I decided to overclock a bit and was able to boot into windows @ all stock voltages at 3.5 GHz (on my X4 640 and a MSI 785GM-P45 AM3 board). Everything seemed fine as I ran Prime95, but after 30 minutes the system abruptly shut down. No matter what I did, I could not get it to turn back on. I have a Corsair 450VX, which is a reputable power supply. Tried a different power supply (Corsair 400w) to no avail. Tried clearing CMOS. Tried removing all peripherals such as hard drives, etc. The LEDs on the front fan would flash for a fraction of a second, and then everything would go back off.

With that in mind, what could cause the board to suddenly die during Prime95, especially at stock voltages? The CPU load temp during prime95 was only 44C. The case had 120mm intake + exhaust fans, plus a Hyper 212 Plus CPU cooler.

did you turn off the PSU, wait 1 minute, and then clear the CMOS for a count of 10 or so?

 

[infotech1]

Sorry for bumping an older thread.

Ive had two of these MSI 785gm-p45 boards along with a 95w 1055t. The MSI says the board supports upto 140w cpu's so it should have no issues.

First board i killed in prime95 running at 3.5ghz stock volts day i bought it.
Second board i ran all stock as i assumed the last board died to power failure.
Second board started randomly reseting/turning off in games and what not so after swapping psu's and removing every additional component i touched the power mosfets, and it was like touching a flame.

Now running the 1055t speedlimited to 1500mhz with my 212+ fans on max to create airflow and the mosfets are hot but touchable now, up side is cpu appears to be running at ambient temps -_-

The board clearly cannot handle hex core chips even at stock speeds, and my hex core is at the lower end of the power spectrum.

Just thought id post as there isnt much info around on these boards failing.

 

[Brother Ali]

Sorry for bumping an older thread.

Ive had two of these MSI 785gm-p45 boards along with a 95w 1055t. The MSI says the board supports upto 140w cpu's so it should have no issues.

First board i killed in prime95 running at 3.5ghz stock volts day i bought it.
Second board i ran all stock as i assumed the last board died to power failure.
Second board started randomly reseting/turning off in games and what not so after swapping psu's and removing every additional component i touched the power mosfets, and it was like touching a flame.

Now running the 1055t speedlimited to 1500mhz with my 212+ fans on max to create airflow and the mosfets are hot but touchable now, up side is cpu appears to be running at ambient temps -_-

The board clearly cannot handle hex core chips even at stock speeds, and my hex core is at the lower end of the power spectrum.

Just thought id post as there isnt much info around on these boards failing.

Yeah its a POS board. I RMA'd like 3 of them before giving up with my x2 560 that I wanted to unlock. I have this board running in my HTPC and its great but due to my experience I will get rid of it when I can. MSI had quick turn arounds but horrible customer service. On my third RMA I asked if they could substute for a different board since this is crazy.....answer was a flat no. They were also very rude everytime I called. I replaced it with a "budget" biostar A880G+ and I couldnt be happier. I have never used a biostar before, but this will not be my last.

 

[coffeejunkee]

Just thought id post as there isnt much info around on these boards failing.

Well, this isn't the first time I've heard this happen, assuming it's indeed the mosfet area in the OP's case. The MSI 870A-G54 is another offender in this area. I've heard quite a few people blowing this one up running their sixcore at stock. All would be solved by a 1$ heatsink on the vrm's but alas.

Other question is what OP means by stock voltages, if 'auto' and overclocked the mobo will overvolt and poof.

 

[Diogenes2]

.... I'm still trying to figure out how Prime95 can kill a brand-new board with all of the components @ stock voltages.

If Prime95 killed motherboards, no enthusiast would have a working one...


You had a weak board that could not handle the power draw of a CPU at 100% load...

 

[dawp]

I didn't think a board would boot without a graphics card, unless it had integrated graphics.. but there may be exceptions?

It will boot until it tried to initialize the video subsystem and when it doesn't see it, the board will spit out and error code indicating video trouble.

 

[aigomorla]

It will boot until it tried to initialize the video subsystem and when it doesn't see it, the board will spit out and error code indicating video trouble.

actually we need to get 2 terms down.

Post = screen display
Boot = Diag Led's firing up.

Yes without anything the board should still Boot, however it wont post.


And 99GT2... i blame solar flares..
Thats it! you just got incredibly unlucky when u primed a solar flare hit your system frying your board out... :X


Serious note, it could be your PSU like you suspect... Do you have your PSU tied to a UPS, so you can rule out a brown spike due to bad wiring in the house?

 

[996GT2]

If Prime95 killed motherboards, no enthusiast would have a working one...


You had a weak board that could not handle the power draw of a CPU at 100% load...

Yep it was a POS board. It's all good though, gave me a good reason to get Sandy Bridge instead.

 

[996GT2]

actually we need to get 2 terms down.

Post = screen display
Boot = Diag Led's firing up.

Yes without anything the board should still Boot, however it wont post.


And 99GT2... i blame solar flares..
Thats it! you just got incredibly unlucky when u primed a solar flare hit your system frying your board out... :X


Serious note, it could be your PSU like you suspect... Do you have your PSU tied to a UPS, so you can rule out a brown spike due to bad wiring in the house?

I don't think it was the PSU. I had a Corsair VX450 at the time plugged into a Philips surge protector, and that PSU worked with my 2500K a week after I RMA'd the MSI board.

I have a Corsair GS600 now so the PSU really shouldn't be the weak link in my setup

 

[996GT2]

Well, this isn't the first time I've heard this happen, assuming it's indeed the mosfet area in the OP's case. The MSI 870A-G54 is another offender in this area. I've heard quite a few people blowing this one up running their sixcore at stock. All would be solved by a 1$ heatsink on the vrm's but alas.

Other question is what OP means by stock voltages, if 'auto' and overclocked the mobo will overvolt and poof.

I actually meant stock voltages, as in I manually set VCore to the VCore that was shown when the CPU was at stock speeds. The board was just poorly designed/made.

 

[aigomorla]

I have a Corsair GS600 now so the PSU really shouldn't be the weak link in my setup

PSU takes power from the main line and then converts it to usable current for your PC.

If your main line is shakey, you can have the most expensive PSU, and it wont help you.

If you look at the voltage feed in your PSU, it will say on average 90-240V.

Typical USA Voltage is 110-125V, but if your wiring is bad, or you have a brown, meaning too many people in your complex or house is using high voltage eq, then your voltage can dip below 90V, and cause your PSU to hickup voltage.

This will lead to component damage.
http://www.ustpower.com/Support/Sup...edgeBasePowerQualityProblems/PQ_Brownout.aspx

This is why i always push a UPS in most high use systems, because if or when that voltage should hickup, the UPS goes to battery to compensate.

Its what active voltage regulation means on most UPS.

 

[Zapper48]

2 mosfets blew on my MSI board with a hexcore running Prime at stock volts.

Now running a Gigabyte board with no problems.